


Art Gallery

by pinkyapples



Series: Peter's Garden [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Artist Peter Hale, Detective Stiles Stilinski, Gen, Mentioned Kate Argent, Mentioned Laura Hale, Minor Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski, blink and you'll miss it slash, mentioned Derek Hale - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 03:11:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9800249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkyapples/pseuds/pinkyapples
Summary: Detective Stiles Stilinski visits the retrospective exhibition of artist Peter Hale at the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art





	

The San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art is currently housing a retrospective exhibition of artwork in the controversial medium of Plastination.  A series of interconnected halls takes the viewer on a journey of artistic evolution.  From the amateur photography of the artist, to his early experimentations with the medium of [Plastination](http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html)

The second hall is devoted to works commissioned prior to 2005 personal tragedy caused the artist to retire from public until 2011.  Hall three is a series of photographs showing burn victims and the damage done to their bodies both cosmetically and internally.  Amongst them the artist himself. 

However it is the fourth hall that has the art world in uproar and attracted the attention of Detective Grezgorz “Stiles” Stilinski.  The art world is all dizzy because they are three powerful new works by the artist many had decried as irrelevant and artistically dead. 

For Detective Stilinski they are irrefutable proof both of murder, and the artist’s insanity.  For here lie the dissected heart, lungs and head of the three people Peter Hale loves, and hates, enough to immortalize: Laura Hale, Derek Hale and Kate Argent.

The public is drawn into a series of three rooms.  Each houses a single display case. 

The first room is titled “Abandonment” the display shows a human heart. The function of the muscle is evident but each dissection is so thin and lit so subtly that from every angle viewed the organ looks almost translucent.  

The second room is titled “Betrayal” and on display a set human lungs.  The same skill and attention to detail is apparent here as in the first room.  They are both exquisitely beautiful and macabre works of art.

Stiles, knowing the true source material of all three displays, acknowledges the testament of love “Abandonment” and “Betrayal” represent.  Just as “Abomination”, represents the deep-seated hate Peter felt towards Kate Argent.

Peter had done nothing to hide the viciousness with which he murdered the woman responsible for the obliteration of all he once held dear. The woman whose hate crime resulted in him suffering 3rd degree burns to eighty percent of his body.  Years spent wasting away in a medically induced coma and later painful physical rehabilitation.  The woman who seduced his nephew into betraying their family’s safety.  The woman who’s actions led to his niece fleeing with said nephew and abandoning him to the care of strangers.

In contrast to the two previous artworks, “Abomination” focused on the preserved and reconstructed skull.  Displayed as a square with the preserved and dissected remains of the brain placed center and lit by a single lightbulb.  On the walls of the room, four large photographs hung.  Each shows a different aspect of the burnt Hale Mansion.

 

***

Stiles exits the room and finds himself in a small reception room where seating is arranged around a central water feature.  He supposes its purpose is to provide a breathing space for the public.  Peter’s artwork is confrontational and controversial, even without knowing the true story behind his latest creations.

The man himself stands with his back to Stiles, seemingly lost in thought.  Stiles takes a seat beside him and runs his hands through his head.  Six years, it’s been six years since Stiles has seen any of the remaining Hale’s of Beacon Hills. 

***

He remembers Derek and Laura Hale, wrapped in EMT shock blankets and sitting in the bullpen of the Beacon Hills Sheriff’s Department.  Himself sitting at his father’s desk while Deputy Stilinski offered silent comfort to the two traumatized children.

He remembers his father talking with his mother in the aftermath of the tragedy.  Words like ‘cover-up’ and ‘arson’ and ‘disappeared’ punctuating their conversations. 

He remembers visiting Peter at Beacon Hills Hospital during the time he was a patient in the same long-term care ward as his mother.  Both of them losing their minds.  Peter due to the isolation of a medically induced coma.  His mother due to terminal disease.  

He remembers Peter coming out of his coma.  It was the year his father became Sheriff.  Laura Hale came to Beacon Hills.  She took Peter away.  His father said they were living in New York these days. 

The Hale’s and their tragedy moved to the background of Stiles’ life.  He had other things to worry about, his dad’s health and school chief amongst them.  The county declared the Hale House derelict and there was talk of tearing it down.  The Mayor wanted the Hale Preserve declared void and returned to the county.  Laura, Derek and their Uncle Peter returned to Beacon Hills.  The Hale House was pulled down.  They didn’t rebuild.  Peter stayed.  Laura and Derek didn’t.  Stiles started his sophomore year of High School.

Stiles graduated and followed in his father’s footsteps.  Peter Hale was somebody with whom he had a passing acquaintanceship. 

Then Laura Hale’s body was discovered, sans heart.   Derek Hale became the prime suspect in her murder and Kate Argent returned to Beacon Hills.  Derek Hale was never seen again. Kate Argent’s headless body was found. Peter Hale left Beacon Hills. The Sheriff gave Stiles the Laura Hale case file.

***

It’s Peter who breaks their silence.  “What do you think of the exhibition?”

Stiles startled from his reverie blurts out, “Creepy”.  Then he runs his hands through his hair again and adds, “Beautiful, exquisite even but ultimately Creepy.”  The words are sincere and Peter doesn’t immediately reply. 

“You understand?” he asks at last.  “I understand.” Stiles answers because he truly does.  “I’ll still arrest you.”

Peter turns towards him and reaches out.  Stiles doesn’t breathe as his lips are caressed by Peter’s thumb. “Perhaps, you will” Peter says and leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The photographic style and content shown in film "Burke & Hare" plus Body Worlds are inspiration for the type of artist I think Peter Hale would be. Both are exquisitely beautiful in a macabre way. Have included this work in my Peter's Garden series because not all gardens are botanical.


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